Twigway confirms it demanded inducement fee in PizzaExpress bid

Nov. 21, 2002

LONDON -- Twigway PLC, which withdrew its £250 million (U.S. $397 million) takeover bid for PizzaExpress this week, confirmed an inducement fee it asked for helped kill the buyout negotiations for the pizza chain.

In a statement issued on behalf of Twigway, ING Barings said the fee asked for was £1.25 million (U.S. $2 million) or 0.5 percent of Twigway's bid.

Twigway, headed by former PizzaExpress owner Hugh Osmond, asked for the inducement fee from PizzaExpress as a demonstration it was serious about the transaction.

"Both Twigway and ING Barings believe that this was not unreasonable in the context of the proposed transaction," the ING release said.

PizzaExpress' board, however, called the fee "onerous," and rejected it.